Reply #18: I'm more concerned about how these idiots enable the RW [View All]

[WildEyedLiberal]

They hand Rush and company all the propaganda they need to call liberals un-American traitor commies, regardless of the fact that those who say that are a small lunatic fringe. This is obviously far more of a problem to do with the state-controlled media than with the lunatic fringe (who will always exist), but I do not appreciate their efforts to undermine a reasonable liberal position. When Joe American hears crap that like, he gets pissed, and he associates it with ALL liberals. My own father has been known to rant about the commie-sympathizing, irrational hippies - this from a man who is Union and has HATED Reagan and Bush with a passion. He's aware enough to vote Democrat, but most people in his situation aren't. Like it or not, they hear these radicals, and they start agreeing with the RW meme that liberals are irrational, bleeding heart, America-hating hippies who loathe the military and want America's enemies to win. This played right into the RW's hands when they were able, with little effort, to turn a decorated war hero, athlete, and man of principle into a coward and a traitor and a "girly man" in 2004.

People like this aren't only found on DU - they're published in liberal magazines, and they're given a disproportionate amount of attention by "liberals" in general. Look what happened when the Republicans ceded control of their party over to the right-wing extremists. Do you want that to happen to the Dems? A party of left-wing nutjobs versus a party of right-wing nutjobs is no kind of choice, and would end up representing the views of maybe 10% of Americans. No, my problem with these lunatics is that every time they open their big loud mouths, they undermine everything that more reasonable liberals are trying to accomplish. We are the persecuted minority in this country right now - we control no branch of government, nor the media. So we need to coalesce into a meaningful opposition that represents the true will of America, because I forcefully do not believe that America really agrees with Bush's imperialist policies. But to do that, we have to marginalize the wackos, instead of insisting that they be given equal say. No - they are only hurting us. We need to stop paying attention to them, stop feeding their need for outrage, and work towards sensible solutions for America. Railing about "capitalist imperialist war pigs" and making intellectual arguments for supporting America's enemies will only (rightfully so) earn us scorn.